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>> and now, "bbc world news america." >> a deal to consign of a bitter rivalry to history. the hon loss leader -- hamas leader to attend the signing. welcome. >> in islamabad, the government of pakistan upset that it could not be trusted with advanced information about the raid on osama bin laden. >> syrian forces extend their drive to end the protest.

>> midday here in london. 4:00 p.m. in pakistan, and 2:00 in cairo where an extraordinary deal is about to be signed by two bitter rivals. the two palestinian factions have decided to put division behind them to agree on a common way forward. the leaders said it was time to turn the black pages of division between them. the deal was brokered by the new egyptian leadership. it is its first significant foreign policy achievements since the january uprising. the justice this signing ceremony is getting underway? >> we believe that it is. it is a ceremonial moment. different palestinians are signing an. but they are there to greet each

other. they have not met for more than four years. there have been bitter words between them and their supporters. to see them together actually agreeing to this, promising to put their bitter differences behind them, is incredibly encouraging for palestinians who have been hoping for this, and howmously frustratied about the split has harmed the palestinian cause. they hope that that would change now. they have had to put aside some extremely difficult issues is between them for the moment to get this deal through. this blast of optimism riding on the waves of the chains that have taken place across the arab world. they are anxious to see this deal done. >> talk about the fine print there. we have rumors of even disagreements over the speaking arrangements for this ceremony.

let's be honest, the bigger picture. the real crunch issues are a long way from being worked out, aren't they? >> they have been papered over for this. those issues will be very hard to resolve. no one can gauge at this moment that true sincerity of each side on this. the most difficult issue of all is how to deal with israel. hamas does not even officially recognized as rowe. they are officially committed to wiping out. a lot of that is rhetoric and that is what we're going to have to find out of a less rigid next few months. they are still committed to this armed struggle against israel but they have demonstrated to be there in other areas. they sense that the entire environment has changed. the palestinian people themselves have been protesting. president abbas used to rely on the support of president mubarak

care. both have been pushed hard by the new egyptian government to fix things. they will have to sort out how they manage their security forces. they have primal -- rival armed security forces in the west bank and gaza. it will be months for those to be sort out, if at all. >> a member of the palestinian legislative council joins us. thank you for joining us. they are still planning -- plenty of commentators rubbing their eyes at this occasion taking place. what makes you believe that it can stand the test of time? >> i think because it is become absolutely imperative, both for internal domestic reasons and regional developments. both sides have come to an understanding that they continue with this, it will cost him

credibility, standing, and constituency under the palestinians. the palestinian public has been speaking out, putting pressure room both sides. we are committed to that well- being of palestine, in new better deal with this and quickly. it does not take a rocket scientist to put together the constituents of such reconciliation. >> it might not take much to put the constituents together on paper of the bill, but when we talk about -- look at the enmity between the two groups for a start. questions about who will be in charge of issues of security. how on earth do you get around a seemingly intractable problem like that? >> there are many problems and issues that have to be dealt with in the implementation. but this first up is absolutely essential to indicate commitment

and a positive response. then we will deal with issues like the full meeting of government made up of independent personalities who enjoy standing and integrity, and you will do with security issues on the basis of the law. but the basic principle of security, both sides agree to nonviolent resistance. hamas has been exercising and gaza. that is been the basis of palestinian security in the west bank. >> this is critical territory. you have in a row, the united estates, the european union, all saying that possible have to give up its non-recognition of israel. >> it should not be depended on what israel except for does not it saps. this israeli government that i recognize --

>> it is the international mediators in this process. >> they do not recognize palestinian rights or international law. we do not place preconditions on israel. but let me make it clear that the palestinian political positions and policy have not changed. it remains the same because it is between the plo and the president. this government as a government of professionals, independents, that will carry out the services that will provide people with the services that they need it. it does not seem a political problem. no one is being asked to do novitiate with this government. -- negotiate with the government. and we will carry out elections, this is crucial. because we need to repair our democratic system and to have

been inclusive, pluralistic, and vibrant democracy. we need to have elections across the board, beginning with local boards, and national councils. that will be the real adversity. this is where the whole world will have to recognize and understand that the palestinian democracy is not selected and must not be subjected. >> on this significant, possibly historic day, thank you very much. let's look at the other stories making headlines around the world today. pakistan is rejecting suggestions from the united states that it could not be trusted with sensitive information in advance of the raid that killed osama bin laden. the head of the pakistani foreign ministry, he is telling the bbc he felt the american commons were disquieting, but says this is not a time to indulge in recriminations. live in islamabad. >> a day ago we saw a united

front being present at between pakistan and the united states. today, a crack in this relationship becoming more apparent. pakistan is released done by the suggestions of the cia that it could not let its allies in pakistan intelligence know anything in advance about the planned raid on an osama bin laden. it is clear that the reformation would leak out and reach the intended target. in the words of the foreign secretary in share, pakistan is played a pivotal role in the global effort against extremism and its cooperation with united states over the years has been extensive. this report from my colleague in islamabad. >> pakistan security personnel stand guard around the compound were osama bin laden lives. washington says it did not give islam a bad any advance warning that the operation was about to again -- about to begin, for.

that deadline would be averted. the dismissed these claims. to get the fact is that this particular occasion, it was pointed out by our intelligence question time ago to the u.s. intelligence, and they have the more sophisticated group to evaluate and assess. but it is a fact that most of these things that have happened in terms of success in what is called the global anti- terrorism with pakistan has been attributable, and so it is disquieting when we hear comments like this. >> pakistan says that they have recovered some documents and that building left by the americans who are only on the ground for 40 minutes. washington is also considering

whether to release of total of bin laden after he was killed. but the white house is worried that publishing the pictures would be inflammatory and could evoke strong anti-american sentiment. for the americans, it is a case of celebrating. the latest news from washington is that bin laden was unarmed when he was killed and his wife try to protect him. -- bin laden's apply rust and was shot in the leg but was not killed. bin laden was shot and killed. he was not armed. >> they are now in pakistan custody. family members say she was taken away by military officials soon after the record his family has appealed for his release. there has been no response from the government. they are still shifting the debris of the country's most embarrassing episode in recent

years. abc news, islamabad. >> much international appetite for details of what happened in that compound belonging to osama bin laden on sunday. some of the things said that he was unarmed at the time of his death. let's get to that pakistan correspondent for the "christian science monitor begin what kind of picture were you able to gain of who lived there? >> it was a basic looking compound. the exterior was on lovely. it stood out among all the neighbors, a much larger house. the people who live there, the neighbors thought of them as well the pashtuns who moved there from waziristan.

there were quite well liked when they went into the society areas. one neighbor, a construction worker, told me that they would share in family celebrations and give condolences. but it would not invite people to run house. >> did you get any sense of whether there were any follow signs of links to the establishment or to the army? >> we did not get that sign. what was unusual was that the houses in the area had particular signs of being involved in a sense is that took place in march and april. -- census that took place in march and april. that compound did not have the same marks. >> what about -- what does this suggest to you? >> it might suggest that someone

came along and was turned away and for some reason it was not followed up on. i cannot say why that was not followed up on. >> thanks very much for joining us, the correspondent of the "christian science monitor." let's get more of a sense of international reaction to all of this. we can go live to afghanistan's former foreign ministers. tell me first, what you first thought when you heard this news. >> the news that we were waiting for him in the past 10 years. because he was the one who killed many afghans before killing anybody else. also he was involved in what happened after september 11, in the fighting in support of the

taliban and others. so the news came -- did not come as a surprise that he was or arrested -- killed. that was not a surprise to me. but before believing that he was the one who reported to me, i wanted to make sure that this was not a rumor and once it was confirmed that this was more than a rumor, then i was relieved. >> but how does it make you feel about your neighbor, who is have a difficult relationship with pakistan? how will this affect the relationship going forward? >> this was not a surprise to us that in the neighborhood, and pakistan unfortunately, they are harboring taliban leaders, al qaeda leaders, and other terrorist networks in their

soil. unfortunately they have lived in the state of denial for the past 10 years. they are suffering, their people are suffering, that taliban is fighting against pakistan institutions, and the afghan taliban is fighting against afghans and thousands of civilians have been killed as a result of this wrong policy of theirs. and now i think it is open what they are doing. it will show whether they draw the right lesson out of what has happened and deals with that in a black-and-white manner, not to harbor or not to support and the terrorist organization to achieve foreign-policy objectives. do they make that decision forever? or will they make it one way or the other, but nevertheless,

that is the impact of the situation. the taliban -- >> i would just like to clarify one point. when you say they were harboring osama bin laden and people like him, are you saying it is your belief that pakistan did know the establishment that he was on pakistani territory? >> i would say that they definitely knew, some in the establishment, that he was there. you're describing the premise that all, had lived there for five years, a few hundred meters from the school, the military academy. that is unbelievable that this would happen without anybody knowing in the establishment. the reason i'm saying this come up whenever we were asking them

about the leaders of the taliban that we knew where they were, for example, they were asking where did they live, how could we be sure that they're there, and when we provided them what the numbers, their telephone numbers, they said that it was outdated. so always denial. are they waking up? the whole world knows what is happening. >> thank you for joining us on the program today. and of course we will continue to bring you complete coverage of the developing story here and the fallout from that raid on osama bin laden in northern pakistan. back to you. >> still to come, the u.s. calls that barbaric. we get the latest on serious effort to in protest against the establishment. judges at the united nations war

crimes tribunal are reading their lengthy ruling on whether to acquit the serbian politician on trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. he denied 14 counts relating to the croatian and bosnian wars. this march new territory for the tribunal. >> they have acquitted people for but not under their rule in both. this is a special role of the court which allows the defendant to ask for acquittal or dismissal of the case or indeed a reduction of the indictment after the prosecution has laid out its case. that is what he did a couple of months ago, because he says that in the four years he has been on trial in the hague, the prosecution has been unable to prove his guilt on any count. he is on trial 14 counts, including crimes against humanity, murder, persecution, destruction of property, and

extermination from the croatian and bosnian wars of the 1990's. the prosecution says that he was of member of the ultranationalist serbian national party. he was an enterprise to remove the non-serbian population. they said that he recruited, trained, and indoctrinated paramilitaries with extremist ideology is. he is comment's like we should not kill them with knives but gouge out their eyes with gusty spence. he says the comments were made in jest. this is the prosecution has failed to prove his guilt. that is why he has invoked his role to ask for acquittal and 10 million euros of compensation from the court. we will hear later on today as the trout chamber continues its deliberations whether they accept his request for acquittal and whether his trial

will and prematurely. >> you're watching gmt. the headlines -- rival palestinian factions gather in cairo to sign a reconciliation deal. the agreements turns forever that are paid to division according to 1 liter. pakistan his back a suggestion from him that this is that it could not be trusted with the tales of the mission that killed osama bin laden. now in syria, there is low left of the anti-government protestors. reports of up to 1000 people being arrested, no independent confirmation. there are reports of threats to protesters as well. france is the latest country to condemn the crackdown. it buys its own nationals to get out of the country.

he had been talking to someone who's been watching the situation from peru. foreign journalists are not allowed into syria. barbaric is how the united states has described it. what is the extent of the crackdown now? >> the line this drop out on this direction. there is a town to the north and west of damascus, there is a siege going on similar to what has been happening in some of the suburbs of damascus itself, and certainly end danaa which has been cut off down on the jordanian border. since the whole trouble began, in the south of the country there. more than six weeks ago, now, reports of shooting and there are more are pressed down there as well. the government is saying that these are on the mend and that they found caches of weapons and so on. as far as the overwhelming majority seems to be concerned,

up their protest is purely peaceful. they are preparing more vigils, more demonstrations all the time. there was one last night in aleppo, where students went out into the dormitories, and they work cash pushed back by soldiers using tear gas and bullets. the main coca's of the government seems to be cracking down in the events of friday and friday prayers in the expected protests. they have been going around to houses with lists, looking for individual people. they cannot find them, they arrest relatives. that is what we hear it from different sources inside syria. it is a pre-emptive crackdown as part of a general clampdown which seems to be the regime's main way of facing the protest at the moment. >> they give very much. a very turbulent region. we move on to libya with a government has dismissed evidence gathered by the international criminal court in a report to the u.n. security council.

the deputy foreign minister says the evidence against president gaddafi is tempered and based on and verify information. the chief prosecutor for the international criminal court says that there are regional grants to charge some with crimes against humanity. in business, portugal is reached agreement for a bailout from the union -- european union and the international monetary fund. the three-year loan at is an agreement that the fence portugal. it will be asking for and then -- for financial assistance with 78 billion euros. officials from the european central bank in the imf have been working on the deal for the past three weeks. economist an assistant professor at the university of madeira's says that the debt needs restructuring. >> there needs to be changes and the way the to do government. but one element to growth is

really that restructuring. one alternative would be dead tree best critique that reconstruction and that the bailout package. >> there is plenty more for you on the website. information on the death of osama bin laden. you will find out all live, minute by minute coverage, the reaction from rider around the globe. you can see the pictures as well, the over the views of the osama bin laden's hideout. and we have ways for you to get in touch with us as well here at the it bbc. do take a look at all of that. and the latest on the abbas and fatah reconciliation deal. that is all for the moment. stay with us because there is plenty more to come.

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wide range of companies. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news america" was presented by kcet, l